


i seriously have no idea

by scatter



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: badbadbathhouse, M/M, Subtext
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-28
Updated: 2011-04-28
Packaged: 2017-10-18 18:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scatter/pseuds/scatter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Souji has Teddie's role and arcana.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i seriously have no idea

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at the Persona 4 Kink Meme: _Anon would love an AU where Souji and Teddie switch roles and Arcanas, but retain their canon personalities. Do plot events take a new route? How do the social links and their events change? Does Souji still become the leader of the Investigation Team? Does Kanji actually get to stroke those fuzzy ears this time? Go crazy, anons!_

Souji was a weird guy.

Well, a weird nearly six-foot cat mascot thing. He wasn't a guy; Yosuke'd taken the head off his body shortly after he and Teddie first entered the TV world but there had been nothing inside.

"I think it's because I was supposed to be the fool and the fool is empty," Souji'd said after he put himself back together, no worse for wear.

Yosuke had no idea what he meant by that and chalked it up to yet another thing about Souji he'd never understand.

Still, despite his odd habit of calling Yosuke partner (a habit that Yosuke was surprised to find didn't annoy him as it once did), he was a nice cat. He helped them get out of the TV world after they fell in (even if he did suspect Yosuke of being the killer, saying Teddie was too odd), he backed them in the battle with information about the Shadows, and it was nice to have someone laidback with them in the TV to counter Teddie (who was kind of crazy guy. Seriously, he _sparkled_ and was trying to teach Nanako how to do the same. Yosuke still hadn't figured out how he did it).

Best of all was the fact that Souji kept his weirdness inside the TV where it didn't affect Yosuke's everyday life.

Until the day he got it into his head that he should come over to the real world.

"There's someone odd hanging around electronics," a frazzled-looking employee told Yosuke when he and the gang were on their way to the TV. "You take care of it."

Yosuke expected a pervert, maybe, or a thief; either way, he resented being told to handle it when he wasn't even on the clock. He was not expecting to see Souji's familiar cat form sitting in a massage chair and reading a book.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he shrieked.

"I was looking for you," Souji said as if nothing were out of the ordinary, "but this place is so big I thought I might get lost and so I decided to sit down and wait. Some man gave me this book when I said I was interested in reading. It's called The Timid—"

"I don't care what it's called! Come on, you can't hang around here, you're attracting attention."

A few minutes later found them at the team's special table, where they grilled Souji for information about whether King Moron had been inside the TV.

"Who?" Souji asked. He didn't seem to mind at all that Kanji had taken a seat next to him and was petting the fur behind his ears. "There hasn't been anyone lately. I got lonely."

"We're sorry, Souji," Yukiko said, and Yosuke felt a twinge of guilt. It must have been boring as hell in there when they weren't around.

"It's alright; you can't be there all the time."

"Did you miss your partner?" Chie asked, grinning when Yosuke made a face at her.

Completely unashamed, Souji said, "Yes," and looked to make sure Yosuke was still standing next to him. He didn't seem at all affected when Yosuke made a face at him too.

"Hmm, you know, Souji," Teddie said, learning forward to peer at him, "you don't look so good."

"How can you tell?" Yosuke asked. The gray face of Souji's costume was fixed in a blank expression.

"Teddie knows," he said, and Yosuke chalked it up to another thing he'd never understand about Teddie, much like the talk about the 'Velvet Room' he sometimes used as an excuse to stare at nothing for minutes on end. Seriously, if Teddie wanted to be weird he could just be weird. There was no need for excuses.

"…It's hot," Souji said after a moment and wrapped his hands around Yosuke's cold drink.

"We could move you to some shade," Yosuke said. He might have been annoyed, but he didn't want Souji to get sick or anything. Plus, he didn't want to deal with a passed out mascot.

"You should take your head off and cool down!" Teddie said and gave off a burst of sparkles to show his enthusiasm for the idea.

"What, and scare the kids?" Yosuke said. "He's hollow inside, Teddie, don't be stupid."

"I'm not hollow," Souji said with an uncomfortable pant. "Not anymore and…it's really hot in this, Yosuke."

Yosuke could have done without Souji panting his name like that, especially when Chie snorted a laugh.

"Maybe if we take him into a bathroom stall?" Yukiko suggested. "No one would see him then."

"He can't cool down," Yosuke said slowly. Was no one getting this? "He's empty."

"I'm not," Souji said and his ears drooped. "I told you."

"Look, Yosuke-senpai," Kanji said absently, still focused on petting Souji, "if the guy says he's uncomfortable, he's uncomfortable. Just unzip it a bit, Souji, and get some relief."

Souji pulled at the zipper around his neck and sighed happily when a breeze rolled in. "That feels much better," he said, and his voice echoed for some reason. Before Yosuke could stop him, he was undoing the zipper all the way and pushing his head off.

Yosuke lunged to pick it up and put it back on – he was never going to be able to explain a headless suit in the food court, his dad would freak, what was Souji doing? – but a collective gasp made him stop and look up.

Souji hadn't been lying; he wasn't hollow.

He sat looking a little confused at everyone's reaction, tall and pale with a gray bowl cut. He also wasn't wearing a shirt. Chie and Yukiko – hell, Kanji too – blushed. Teddie let out an interested, "Oooooo," and sparkled for no reason.

Or maybe because he was excited. Yosuke decided it was better not to think about it lest he scar himself.

"See, partner?" Souji said, turning gray eyes towards him. "I grew a body for you."

Wait, what?

He couldn't respond to that; something in his brain seemed to have broken. Was it worse to have a hollow mascot in the food court or to have a guy who might be naked under the costume? Either way, he was sure his dad wouldn't be happy.

"Are you naked?" Chie asked, scandalized.

Souji continued to stare at Yosuke, apparently waiting for him to have some kind of a reaction beyond shock.

"Are you naked?" Yosuke repeated and prayed that the answer was going to be, 'Of course not, stupid, I have pants on.'

Souji glanced away and wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. Not that Yosuke noticed. He also didn't notice that Souji was sweaty or that the small smile he gave Yosuke was the Yosuke had given to girls he thought were pretty. "Shouldn't I be?"

Yosuke choked on air.

Souji was a weird guy and it would have been infinitely easier to send him back into the TV, but that night Yosuke brought him home and tried to explain why he had to stay over for an extended period of time. Turned out he also had to explain why he wanted to share Yosuke's room and why he kept calling him partner.

A week later, when Yosuke slipped and called him partner around the rest of the team, Souji smiled and said, "See, it sounds good in public too."

Yukiko fell into a laughing fit, Chie stuttered, Kanji got a nosebleed, and Teddie…Teddie just sparkled and said they made an eye- _cat_ -ching couple.


End file.
